The United States has secretly sent long-range missiles to Ukraine in recent weeks, AP reports. These are ballistic missiles of the ATACMS type that were deployed twice by Ukraine this month. “It has been kept secret at the request of Ukraine,” says defense specialist Peter Wijninga of the The Hague Center for Strategic Studies.
Ukraine has ballistic missiles, ‘You see America moving’
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Washington has always been reluctant to supply missiles with a range greater than 100 kilometers, these ATACMS can be deployed more than 300 kilometers, says Wijninga. According to the defense specialist, Ukraine wanted to keep this under the table, but after the attacks on, among other things, an airfield in Crimea and a target east of the port city of Berdjansk on the Sea of Azov, they could no longer ignore it and it was clear that these were the long-range versions of the ATACMS.
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Greater threat
According to Wijninga, Russian targets behind the front could face a greater threat. ‘And then you are talking about logistics hubs, collection points, warehouses, etc. It may be because the United States hesitated for so long about this package that the Russians erred on the side of caution and probably withdrew some distance.’
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Not a game changer
Wijninga does think that other, immovable infrastructural targets such as the bridge at Kerch will soon come under fire. The rocket is fired from a HIMARS launch facility, which makes it a flexible system. ‘It is highly mobile, you can move it quickly and then deploy it again.’ Wijninga thinks that we will see a lot of this in the near future, but that it will not be a game changer. Nevertheless, Ukraine will have many more opportunities to attack Russian targets.
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North Korea
The news that the Russians are using North Korean missiles may have contributed to the Americans’ decision to supply long-range ATACMS. According to Wijninga, the step had actually already been taken because the Americans had also sent short-range ATACMS. ‘You see the Americans moving incrementally towards making it possible to fight targets at a greater distance from Ukraine.’
Tags: Ukraine secretly receives ballistic missiles America moving
